Football betting tips: Premier League
1pt Martin Zubimendi to be carded at 5/1 (bet365)
1pt Dominik Szoboszlai to be carded 4/1 (William Hill)
0.5pt Zubimendi and Szoboszlai card double at 25/1 (bet365)
0.25pt Gabriel Magalhaes to score 2+ goals at 100/1 (Betfair, Paddy Power)
Arsenal have emerged from the festive period as clear title favourites.
They have won their last four Premier League games and crucially those chasing them dropped points. Sky Bet have them at 1/4 officially making it theirs to lose.
How this pressure sits with the Gunners camp psychologically remains to be seen. If I had to hazard a guess, I don’t think it will make any difference.
Mikel Arteta’s side have only dropped points in five league games this term (W15 D3 L2), the Spanish supremo almost has a full complement of players available on Thursday and he has been resting and rotating.
Bukayo Saka, Mikel Merino and Leandro Trossard dropped to the bench at Bournemouth. Declan Rice is back fit, as is Martin Odegaard, so quotes of odds-on for them to win on Thursday are probably apt.
Liverpool did win the reverse and are nine unbeaten in all competitions. That said, they’ve played Leeds (twice), Sunderland, West Ham, Fulham, nine-man Tottenham, Wolves and Brighton across that sample and drawn four times.
I don’t think much stock can be put into the Reds recent form.
As Jake’s outlined in his column, this is a set-piece mismatch. I’ll not go over old ground but I do think he has missed a trick not touting GABRIEL MAGALHAES TO SCORE 2+ GOALS at 100/1.
Gabriel has made 174 Premier League appearances and netted 20 goals, two of which came in the same game so he's done it before.
The main bets come from the player card market.
Anthony Taylor is the referee. He blows hot and cold but does appear to be on one at the minute.
Taylor has overseen 23 games this term and given no cards in three. Since his last cardless game, he has dished out an average of 4.67 cards per match (55Y 1R) and eight cards or more on two separate occasions.
MARTIN ZUBIMENDI is the standout price TO BE CARDED for the hosts at 5/1. He is Arsenal's second most carded player (4) and ranks third for fouls per game (1.1).
DOMINIK SZOBOSZLAI appeals in the same market for the visitors at 4/1. He’s averaged the same amount of fouls as Zubimendi and tops the Reds charts for cards (5).
Three of Szoboszlai's cards have come against Chelsea (5th), Aston Villa (3rd), Manchester City (2nd) so he clearly loves the big occasions.
The CARD DOUBLE appeals at 25/1 just in case.
Odds correct at 12:30 (05/01/26)
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